Her Blood Sings: Episode 01 Read Free Page B

for us." Darcy
laced his fingers together, seemed to ponder for a moment. "It
would set the tone for my speech."
    Lydia relaxed on her chair, but her eyes
still shot daggers at Elliot.
    "Who are you sending out tonight, dad?"
Louisa asked, her voice always pleasant and neutral. Elliot and
Lydia's constant bickering, the ghost of war hanging over them,
natural disasters of epic proportions... nothing bothered her. "It
has to be a crowded, public place."
    "What is the name of the local Elvin
nightclub?" Chris asked. "Do they have one here?"
    Louisa picked up her cell phone from her
jeans' pocket and Googled it. "Moonlight."
    "Moonlight it is." After a second or two,
Darcy added "Elliot and Christopher should go out tonight."
    Chris glanced at Lydia. She was deep in
thought, calculating.
    "This plan is solid,” she said. "When you
make the speech, dad, be sure to have the room looking at you. Your
words are powerful and Vicenzo is a crowd pleaser. We can use that
against him." Lydia was all blonde hair, heart-shaped face and
angelic green eyes - which made her next words even more biting.
"But that little bitch Vicenzo is shackled to is a problem. She
wants Gaius's head. It’s best for everyone if she dies - even if
there's no war.”
    Darcy’s stare was lost in the distance. Chris
knew he hated to kill one of his kind. There were so few vampires –
especially compared to the witches and the weres. But Vicenzo's
companion really was a liability. Lydia was right. Darcy nodded,
his face heavy with sadness.
    Lydia smiled at Chris and Darcy and leaned
back on her chair. She picked up the teapot and poured herself some
more blood. She looked like she'd just got daddy to give her a
brand new car, not like she'd convinced him to slaughter a 500
year-old vampire.
    Darcy leaned back on his chair and looked at
Chris. He looked proud to the point of being smug. “This is an
excellent idea, my boy.”
    Elliot huffed in frustration. He was never
called my boy or son . Only Chris was.
    Their conversation shifted to more pleasant
topics, like the training of the new stock. Eventually, Elliot
excused himself, saying he had to get ready to go out. Louisa left
soon after. Chris and Lydia left Darcy's room together. Chris loved
all his siblings, but Lydia was his favorite. Maybe it was because
he had seen her grow up or because she'd always looked at him like
she was so proud of him.
    "Look at you, my boy ." She bounced a
couple of steps, her hands clapping together. "Darcy will appoint
you his heir if we really go into battle. I know he will."
    "What makes you think I want that?"
    "Why wouldn't you?" Lydia gave him an are
you crazy? look.
    Chris couldn't really answer that he didn't
see himself as a leader. Instead, he asked "What about you? Don't
you want the job?"
    "Nah. Too much work." Lydia called the
elevator. "Besides, Elliot is already a pain in the ass. Can you
imagine him questioning every decision I made? I'd kill him. But he
likes you. He won't question you."
    They got in the elevator.
    Chris pressed the button to the fifth floor
underground. He noticed the stupid grin on Lydia's face. "You're
way too happy over this." Before she had the chance to fake
innocence, Chris added, "Come on, tell me. What do you have
planned?"
    She pretended to be wounded. "Chris, what
makes you think I'd have anything up my sleeve?"
    Chris gave her a look.
    Lydia's act imploded.
    "Ok." She pushed her hair back from her face.
"I have a guest to entertain later.” She grabbed Chris's arm,
practically bouncing. “A werepanther.”
    “A werepanther?”
    “A very kinky werepanther.” She giggled when
Chris looked disgusted. “Not all of us hate being a vampire,
Chris.”
    “What?” he asked. "Have we met before?"
    "Don't pretend with me." She rolled her eyes
at him. "You might like some things about being a vamp. But a part
of you still wishes you were with that wife of yours, sharing a
dump with a gazzillion kids and growing old together."
    He felt